Secret Victorian Garden finish

I posted every where but here (need to find the slapping forehead emoji).  I started this when it was Mystery X on January 1, 2007.  I kept up with the parts until July or August when I packed up and moved from New Hampshire to Virginia.  It spent years in the WIP box and was in and out of the rotation a number of times, but I decided this was the year it was going to be finished and stopped rotating for a while.

Winter Watergarden was picked by the random number picker to take its place when I start my rotation back up.

Secret Victorian Garden Update

After 9 years, 1 month and 28 days, the stitching on Secret Victorian Garden is done.  To be fair to myself, the poor thing sat in WIP hibernation for 6 years or so and then only got worked on a couple of times over the next three years before I settled in over the long President's Day weekend to finish it.  There are still 1,627 Delicas to add and several hundred bicones and cubes, but I am very happy to have the stitching part done.

Stitched on 32-count (I think) Carol's Meadow Jobelan (a limited edition fabric) from Silkweaver Fabrics with the called for materials.

Secret Victorian Garden Update

Secret Victorian Garden was pulled out after a long rest this week.  I had five days off from work and this was my focus piece.  I am very pleased with how much I got done and plan to keep it on the frame until it is finished - hopefully by the end of this month.

 

It is a horrible picture, but I couldn't get a better one showing the whole thing.

It has been a while

I am not going to go back and see the last time I posted here.  Secret Victorian Garden made its way into the rotation and I finished the last part 9!

There is a little bit of part 10 done and the outside border is part of part 11.  As I am so close to a finish, I have stopped my rotation and am going OAAT on this until it is done. I do think I can finish it before the end of the year.

Playing Catch-Up for the Whole Year!

Hello, everyone! I admit, I'm a slug when it comes to posting anything here - and it's been a pretty busy 8 months for Chatelaines in my house, actually.

Let me back up to January, because after spending the 2nd half of last year in FINISH IT mode, I allowed myself several new starts - and Hummingbird Lace was my January 1st new start! There's nothing like the smell of a new Chatelaine in the morning!

Now, the fabric I picked for this is a 28ct jobelan that I special ordered from a company that I don't think is in business anymore - Faery Fire Fabrics :( I can't find them anymore, so maybe they have changed names or some such - I am very happy with this fabric. I worked for just 2 weeks, I believe, and got the center and the first over-1 Hummer done:

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to turn this 90 degrees - but you get the idea...

I look forward to working on this again later this year when it comes back up in my rotation - gotta get those over-1 hummers done while I can still see 'em :)

I have also gotten a rotation in on my Tuscany Town Mandala, completing Part 6, and the under-bridge bargello from Part 11, since I was in the area. You know, I was wondering about that Grapefruit Kisses color used for the tiny Jessica flowers - but as soon as I started putting it in, I fell in love with it! But then, it's Jessica's, with BEADS, so what's not to love? And I am happy to report that this part was much smoother that Part 5, which took FOREVER!

I don't know if this one's going to make it into the rotation again this year or not; probably not, I've got a pretty full dance card... This is on 28ct Waterlily jobelan, using most of the called-for threads, though I also converted a few to HDF silks.

Not too long after Tuscany was put away, Secret Victorian Garden came up again (it's funny how all these Chats seemed to have made the rotation during the first half of the year - what will I do the 2nd half?). Anyway, May was a very busy month here - I graduated my last kid from high school and had family visiting in honor of that; it's a wonder I got in any stitching. But I did finally complete Part 8 of SVG, though this one took a very long time, whereas I have pretty much breezed right through the last few parts on this one. Still loving every stitch on this, though there weren't any beads this time around - but all those Swarovskis are coming!

Every time I finish a part on this one, I lay it out somewhere flat and get all the bicones out and lay on it in the middle - man I can't wait to get those on permanently! This is on 28ct Pewter jobelan, using all charted threads.

And lastly, I just finished a rotation on my Desert Mandala - Part 4 with the beaded rattlesnake!!!!!!! I have been so eager to get to this snake that it was all I could do to get through those $@%^ feathers in Part 3! LOL My MIL was visiting while I was working on this, and she has a huge fear of snakes - she couldn't even look at it while I was putting him in - her loss, because he's FABULOUS!

This part went pretty quick - I was actually kinda sad to put it away, but if I'm going to get through ALL  of my 18 WIPS in a year, I had to move on. Desert is on 28ct Desert Sky lugana from Silkweaver - it doesn't photograph well at all, but it is very pale blue & tan. I have a lot of the called-for colors converted to HDF, which I think are a tad darker than the originally charted colors - but so far, I'm liking it; it definitely reminds me of the 2 years I spent in New Mexico (where I hope to go back some day).

That's 8 months worth of updates from me. I am tentatively holding out a New Year's Start for 2016 - Deep Blue Sea is really not happy that it didn't make the cut this year. We shall see, since I am NOT going to finish ANYTHING this year, after completing a lot of big, older things last year. DBS will bring me to 19 WIPs - which is not the highest I've ever been - but that may or may not be the straw that broke this camel's back. I will try to be a more regular poster in the coming year, new start or no :)

Some Secret Victorian Garden progress

When I last posted, way back in November, Secret Victorian Garden, was here:

 

I haven't posted as I should, but I have been stitching (a bit). As of yesterday afternoon, SVG was here:

 

 

I did get another couple of hours of stitching in and finished the bottom blue border, and finished the blue wall and added a bit of tree in the left corner.  Only that corner, the outside border and a TON of beads and it will be finished. I am aiming for a finish by the end of this year.

It has been a while

Hmmm, looking back, it hasn't been as long as I thought, but still a while.  Secret Victorian Garden had its week in the rotation and I got it to here:

The right corner is done through part 10 and there is a bit of part 9 finished on the left one.  I did stitch a bit more than shown here but I put it up before I took a picture.  I am getting close enough to a finish that I can really see it.

Another Secret Victorian Garden Update

Not a lot of stitching has happened lately but I was able to get some time in with Secret Victorian Garden.  When I last posted, it was here:

Unfortunately, I misread the key and had to pull out all that blue but after the frogging it was fairly smooth stitching to here:

I hope to finish the green on the willow tree and the windows in the wall before its rotation time is up tomorrow.  And yes, there are two different colors in the willow branches.  I misread that color too way back when and didn't notice until I was much too far along to frog so I changed the rest of the corners to match.

A Past Finish and Progress on SVG

Now where have I been? I know I check in here every week or two and see what great stuff everyone is up to, but I don't seem to have posted here when I finished Beaded Dragonfly Tile! In my defense, work has been absolute chaos since my boss announced his imminent retirement, and then all the fun of getting my baby to the first day of his last year of high school - and well, it's almost the end of September now, so yeah, I'm a bit behind.... :)

Anywho, here is my completed Dragonfly Tile, which I put the very last bead on on 7/25/14 (see how late I am??)

Completed on 28ct black jobelan, with the as-charted threads, except the inner border that was supposed to be black, I changed to the Caron Waterlilies. And here's a detail shot of the bling:

My eyes were happy to be done with the black fabric, and then I moved on to other things. But then, a couple of weeks ago, after struggling with the beads on GP Witches Wheel (boy do these delicas have me SPOILED), which did get finished, and then a bit of time on BR Celtic Banner, I heard Secret Victorian Garden calling my name; I've seen lots of WIP photos of it in the last few weeks, as though I needed more convincing :)

I am working parts 6 and 7 together, one quarter at a time. Here is the week before last's progress, the Top house:

My SVG is on 28ct Pewter jobelan, using all of the called for fibers & beads. Here is the overall as of this past Sunday, when I completed the Left house, too (apologies, I cannot seem to flip the image :( ):

I plan to continue on with SVG this week and next, hopefully having parts 6 & 7 completed. Then it will get put up and I'll move on to something else - I have 2 more projects that I WANT to finish by the end of the year, so I better get cracking!

Happy Stitching, everyone!

Secret Victorian Garden Progress

I don't think I put more than a few dozen stitches into Secret Victorian Garden last month, but every stitch done is one stitch closer to finished.

Can't see the progress?  I have a hard time seeing it too -it's those blue stitches right above the backstitched motif with the heart.  I am hoping that my stitching mojo will return and I will have more to show next month.

Secret Victorian Garden Update

With the start of summer weather,  I was afraid my summer stitching slump would hit, but so far, so good.  Secret Victorian Garden was on the frame this week and I am happy with the progress that I made.  When I put it away last, it was here:

and now, it is here:

Still a lot of stitching and beading left, but a finish by the end of this year seems to be a real possibility. Running to hide from the bad stitching karma that is surely headed my way for saying that!!

Secret Victorian Garden

I have finished part 11 on two corners and started part 12 on one side of Secret Victorian Garden.

I was feeling so good about how far I was on this one and actually thinking I might have a finish soon but then, I unrolled it from the frame and saw this:

That top section is so EMPTY!!!

Secret Victorian Garden

I forgot to post my Secret Victorian Garden progress when I finished its last round in the rotation.  I think it will come up again before the end of this month, but I will wait until June to post any progress from that round.  Until then, here's where I left off:

Lots more backstitching/blackwork on this corner before it's finished, it is my least favorite stitch, but the effect is worth pushing through my dislike.

Secret Victorian Garden

While it was beautiful outside this weekend, the allergies pretty much kept me inside. Fortunately, Secret Victorian Garden came up in the rotation so I had spring colors inside:

Stitched on 32-count Carol's Meadow from Silkweaver Fabrics with fibers and beads as called for

 



Secret Victorian Garden

I started this back in January of 2007 when this was the big mystery of the year.  I kept up with it until July or so and then moved.  It was pulled out every so often but has been relegated to the WIP box for more than a year.  As it is so close to finished, I decided, with a little persuasion, that it should go in this year's rotation, so this month Serengeti was put away and Secret Victorian Garden stepped in.  It has now finished its week in the rotation and I am really pleased with my progress.

Here is where it was when I pulled it out:

And here is where it is today:

And while a bit blurry, this is my favorite part of this piece:

Just love that blackwork bit.

Reintroducing Myself

I joined this blog back in February of 2012 and have been posting off and on since then, but with the start of the SBCC, I thought I should reintroduce myself.  My name is Susan and I live in central Virginia with The Hubs and three cats who would gladly move in with any of you if you would agree to worship the ground they walk on be at their constant beck and call treat them like Gods keep them in a manner that they feel they should be.  Instead of redoing my first post, here's the link to it:  http://chatelainestitchers.blogspot.com/2012/02/new.html.  I haven't finished a Chatelaine since that post, but have been working on several of them.  I am currently working on Serengeti but with a  little coaxing from others, I think I will replace it with Secret Victorian Garden in the rotation in an attempt to change the no finish statement.  I did post what I thought was the most current photo of my progress a week or so ago, but I found a newer one it is really nice to see that I am further along than I thought I was:

I am stitching this on Silkweaver's Carol's Meadow with the recommended materials.  Unlike now, I did not bead this as I went along so lots and lots of beading is in my future.

Serengeti

I have been very remiss in posting my Serengeti progress.  I have nine other Chatelaines in various stages of WIPness - I think Secret Victorian Garden is closest to being finished and I may rotate it with Serengeti  in my rotation.  But before I do that, here is my Serengeti progress: 

This is stitched on 32-count Summer Sky Jobelan with the called for fibers and beads.  I am beading the Delicas as I go and will add the bicones and other blingy things later.  And just in case I decide to add Secret Victorian Garden, here is where I am on that one:

I don't have a full-piece photo of this one but the other corners either don't have the trees or have trees that are just started.  I started this one on January 1, 2007 when it was Mystery X and kept up with it until the summer.  Then I moved and in between the packing and moving and unpacking and life, it got put away.  I have picked it up a few times since and got this corner to part 11 I think it's part 11.  It is stitched on 32-count Carol's Meadow from Silkweaver Fabrics.  I think it was a limited edition color as I only saw it for a short period of time.  It's a light green with splashes of very light floral colors.  It is stitched with the called for fibers and beads.  As I hadn't learned better, I did not bead this as I went so will have a lot of beading to do when I finish stitching. 

Secret Victorian Garden

I pulled this one out for a little lovin' this past weekend.  I was able to complete two corners of part 9 and almost complete one corner of part 10. I did not take a photo of the whole piece, but here is where I stopped Sunday evening:

 And here is where I stopped Monday evening:

This is stitched on Silkweaver Fabric's Carol's Meadow. It is neither blue nor white, but a light green with the barest hints of pink/peach. I am using the called for threads and beads.

Hello! And some previous finishes

Joyce invited me already a while ago to this blog and asked me to show my Chatelaine finishes and wips. I've been just so tired lately (had a flu, which passed quite quickly but left me so tired) that I haven't had the energy to update my own blog or to post here. But now I'm feeling a bit more energetic, and scraped together my so far Chatelaine finishes (I'll make another post about the wips).

My very first Chatelaine finish was Mini Mystery E, nowadays known as Emerald, followed by the rest of the series. I have stitched Emerald and Amethyst twice (the whole story is in my blog), and have Ruby and Sapphire as wips for the second time.

Between the Mini Mysteries, I finished Mystery VII, Autumn Dusk. I gave it to my mother, and later stitched her also Winter's Eve from the same series.

My first big Chatelaine finish, and the design that lured me to Chatelaines, was Alpine Seasons.

The next finish was Medieval Town Mandala.

Le Potager du Roi (King's Vegetable Garden)

Secret Victorian Garden

Two Christmas designs, Christmas mysteries II and V:

And couple of freebies (I'll add a picture of the second one later, for some reason I don't have a photo of Springtime Roses...)
Easter Bunny 2010: